How does Tennyson use imagery (examples) in the poem, "The Lady of Shalott" to present the story? Visual and auditory imagery?How does the audience...

The speaker of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" switches
back and forth between visual and auditory imagery to reveal the
story.

The poem opens with visual imagery of nature,
freedom, and movement (which is touch, actually, but the visual does dominate).  Around
Shalott, the willows are white (visual), the aspens quiver (touch), the waves in the
river run forever (sight and touch), by the island in the river (sight) (lines
10-18).

But in lines 28-36 auditory images predominate: 
the reapers "Hear a song that echoes cheerly (auditory).  This is how the lady is
known:  no one has seen her wave her hand, stand at the window, or knows her at
all.

Another switch from visual to auditory occurs in the
shift from lines 73-81 to lines 82-90.  In the first stanza Lancelot is described
visually:  he rides like a bow-shot, rides between the barley, his image dazzles into
her mirror, his armor shines like flames, as does his
shield.

In the next stanza, the imagery changes to
auditory:  the bridle bells ring merrily, his equipment belt holds a bugle, and even his
armor rings.

All this fascinates the Lady, but what
inspires her to actually break the curse and look out the casement or window, is
Lancelot's song:

readability="24">

He flashed into the crystal
mirror,

"Tirra lirra," by the
river

Sang Sir
Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the
loom,

She made three paces through the
room,

She saw the waterlily
bloom,

She saw the helmet and the
plume,

She looked down to Camelot. 
(106-113)

Imagery makes
abstract ideas more concrete.  With the visual and auditory imagery, Tennyson makes
concrete his ideas.  That helps the reader understand what he is revealing.  For one
example, the Lady first sees Lancelot blaze into her mirror, and then hears the ringing
of his bells and armor, followed by his song.  These images concretely reveal what makes
the Lady look out the window and break the curse.  The speaker could say that the Lady
sees Lancelot in her mirror, and hears him outside, and therefore goes to the window and
looks out.  But all that is abstract.  The images make it concrete.